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Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — Vietnamese officials are hopefully anticipating an unannounced visit to Hanoi by Russian President Vladimir Putin, possibly as early as next week on his way to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leaders. Experts say such a visit would allow the Russian leader to show that Western efforts to isolate his government over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have failed, while furthering Hanoi's efforts to navigate a middle ground between the United States and China. Vietnam could also be expected to seek an arms deal with its historical ally as its Soviet-era military equipment ages beyond its service life. During a phone call on March 26, the leader of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam — General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong — extended an invitation to Putin to visit Hanoi. According to state media outlet Vietnam News Agency, "President Putin happily accepted the invitation and agreed for the two sides to arrange [the visit] at a suitable time." Ian Storey, fellow at Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, told VOA that the visit could take place this month, when Putin is expected to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Putin confirmed at an April 25 congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs that he would visit Beijing sometime in May. He did not provide dates, but Bloomberg quoted unidentified sources saying it would take place on May 15 and 16. "Putin might use this opportunity to visit Russia's three closest partners in Asia: China, Vietnam and North Korea," Storey wrote in an email on April 10. "Putin would use this visit to signal to the world that his government's 'Turn to the East' policy remains on track and that the West has failed to isolate Russia." Balancing power Maintaining a close connection to Moscow is a priority for the Vietnamese leadership as they attempt to balance between the world's two leading powers, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at Honolulu's Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. "Vietnam has to balance its relationship between China and the United States, and it's like it's caught between a rock and a hard place," he told VOA during a Zoom call on April 13. Vuving said that Beijing is a threat to neighboring Vietnam's territorial integrity not only as it encroaches into the South China Sea but also as its power grows regionally. While the U.S. is the obvious counterbalance, Washington is seen as a threat to the country's regime by the ruling Communist Party. "Russia offers a very good middle ground for Vietnam," Vuving said. Moscow shares "regime affinity and their leaders still call each other comrades." Furthermore, Russian enterprises are key partners to Vietnam's oil and gas ventures in the South China Sea, he said. Storey said a meeting would be particularly significant after Hanoi upgraded ties with Washington in September 2023 and Xi visited Hanoi in December. "Putin has been invited to visit Vietnam twice now," first by President Vo Van Thuong in October 2023 and again in March by Trong, Storey wrote. "Now that the visits of Presidents [Joe] Biden and Xi have taken place, Vietnam might welcome a visit by Putin for two reasons: First, to demonstrate that it pursues a balanced foreign policy; and second, to show Moscow that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia remains a valuable friend." Arms and public perception Nguyen The Phuong, a doctoral candidate at the University of New South Wales Canberra, told VOA that an arms deal with Russia may be in the works. "If Putin visited it will be a very good chance for Vietnam to explore those kinds of possibilities of how they could somehow purchase weapons from Russia," Phuong said, speaking to VOA on April 8 over Zoom. Storey wrote that acquiring new fighter jets is a top priority for Vietnam "as its current inventory of Russian-made aircraft is reaching the end of its operational life." "We cannot rule out future purchases from Russia," he said, adding that any discussion of arms deals would be kept tightly under wraps amid sensitivity over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Although Vietnam's international reputation would be damaged if news of an arms deal with Russia was made public, it would likely be supported by the majority of the Vietnamese public, according to Phuong. "They would be welcoming of the upcoming visit of Putin," he said. "The Vietnamese public still has some sense of some support for Russian weapons — it's a result of a historical narrative and propaganda." Still, that support is not universal. Tran Anh Quan, a Ho Chi Minh City-based social activist, said he has opposed the war on Ukraine since its outset. "If today I do not oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine, then later, if China invades my country, who will speak up to support us?" he wrote over the messaging app Telegram in Vietnamese on April 13. Quan told VOA that he has faced pushback from Vietnamese authorities for his efforts to support Ukraine. "In March 2022, I created the Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine fanpage to launch a campaign to support the Ukrainian people. Then I printed and sold t-shirts with the slogan Vietnamese Stand With Ukraine to raise money to send to the Ukrainian embassy in Hanoi," he wrote. "In October 2022, security from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security came to my house to arrest me and interrogate me about my pro-Ukraine views. The police told me verbatim that 'supporting Ukraine is a plot to overthrow the Vietnamese state.'" In the face of threats, Quan said, he closed his initiative to support Ukraine. "They threatened to kill me if they met me in Ho Chi Minh City. So I had to close my business to be safe," he said.

The UN says at a time when fragile humanitarian operations urgently require expansion, border closures in southern Gaza are further limiting the ability to reach thousands of people living in dire conditions. Ciarán Donnelly with the International Rescue Committee describes how even the limited operation Israel launched earlier this week has thrown humanitarian operations into crisis. Despite deep divisions and a rise in antisemitism incidents, Jewish donors raise unprecedented funds to feed people in Gaza. Amid protests and cheers, an Israeli singer will compete in this weekend's Eurovision Song contest.

washington — Following Turkey’s decision to halt all trade with Israel because of the war in Gaza, there are concerns that bilateral relations might deteriorate further. Experts speaking to VOA Turkish argue this is a dramatic change in ties, whereas previously the economic aspect was usually the last one to incur damage despite political tensions.  Turkey announced last month it was restricting the export of 54 items to Israel, including steel, construction products and chemical fertilizers.  And earlier this month, Ankara took the unprecedented step of halting all trade, sending Turkish and Israeli traders scrambling for alternatives.   Turkish-Israeli ties have been strained since a 2010 incident in which Israeli commandos raided the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara aid ship sailing for Gaza in international waters.  Despite tensions throughout their unsteady relationship, impacted at times by the domestic political dynamics of each country, the trade component of their relations largely remained intact. Nimrod Goren, Israeli affairs expert at the Middle East Institute, said the recent move was a “game changer.”   “One of the unique characteristics of the relations was every time there was political tension, the economic relations managed to continue. Now it’s a big-time change in the nature of relations,” he told VOA in an interview via Skype. Gallia Lindenstrauss, from the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, is worried that diplomatic relations might also be in danger. Likening the trade component to “oxygen” for the bilateral ties, she said, “Trade was in a way [an] insurance policy for the relations. When you take out trade, you are not left with a lot.”  Call to 'work through differences'  Turkey and Israel appeared to be on a path of rapprochement until the war in Gaza reversed those efforts.   Just a few weeks before the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The two leaders committed to mutual visits.    Goren said that before the Hamas attack took place, relations between Turkey and Israel were good.   “The starting point this time for Turkey was a very good one. Turkey had good relations with Israel, and it had better relations with Egypt. Those were the two things that prevented Turkey from mediating in the Israeli-Hamas escalation in the past,” he said.  The United States called this week on Turkey and Israel to resolve their differences. When asked about Turkey’s trade ban with Israel, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “They are both allies of ours and we would encourage them to work through their differences.” Businesspeople in limbo  Turkey and Israel conducted $6.8 billion in trade last year. A free-trade agreement between the two countries has been in place since 1997.    According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TUIK, Israel ranked 13th among the countries Turkey exported to the most in 2023. Israel imported vehicles, construction materials, steel and textile products from Turkey. There has been concern that the trade ban would have an impact on Azerbaijan oil shipped to Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The oil tankers bound for Israel are loaded at Turkey's Ceyhan port. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told VOA Turkish that Turkey's function is to transmit and load the oil. It continues to operate the pipeline as part of an international agreement, he added. Ankara says the trade ban will stay in place until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. The talks in Cairo have yet to yield results amid concerns of a bigger military action by Israel in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. “The war is not in the same level of intensity. But it might prolong. Businesspeople don’t like uncertainty. They are in limbo now. If it’s temporary, it’s one thing. But if it’s going to be prolonged, it will be very, very hard to get back to square one,” Lindenstrauss told VOA.   Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a tweet Thursday on X saying Turkey had retracted many of the trade restrictions, easing the trade ban. Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat dismissed his claim as “absolutely fictional.”  However, the Turkish Trade Ministry reportedly introduced a three-month respite for firms to fulfill their existing orders via third countries. A source from the ministry told Reuters the move aims to protect Turkish traders, while another source denied any easing of the ban. This story originated in VOA’s Turkish Service. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Tehran, Iran — Iranians had the chance to cast ballots for parliament again Friday in regions where candidates failed to secure enough votes in March, when conservatives and ultra-conservatives won a majority. First-round voting saw a turnout of 41%, marking the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Candidates needed at least 20% of all valid votes in their constituency to be elected in the initial round. Friday's vote was to fill the seats of 45 deputies, out of the 290 in parliament, in 15 of Iran's 31 provinces, including Tehran, officials said. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among the first to cast a ballot as voting began. "If God wishes, dear people, everyone should participate in these elections and vote. Greater participation signifies a stronger parliament," he said. In March, 25 million Iranians took part, out of 61 million eligible voters. The main coalition of reform parties, the Reform Front, had said ahead of the first round that it would not take part in "meaningless, non-competitive and ineffective elections." The vote was the first since nationwide protests broke out following the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, 22. Amini, an Iranian Kurd, had been arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Wednesday that participation in the second round was "as important" as the first. "Those with influence among the people should encourage the nation to participate in it," he said, according to Mehr news agency. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, first-round turnout was above 61 percent, before falling to 42.57% in 2020 when elections took place during the COVID pandemic. 

london — Chinese President Xi Jinping departed Hungary on Friday after a five-day trip to Europe, his first visit to the continent in five years. Xi pledged to work with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a new "multipolar world order." Analysts say Beijing is courting its allies in Eastern Europe to exploit Western divisions. Xi left Budapest after having signed 18 bilateral agreements to increase economic and cultural ties during his two-day stay in Hungary. The two countries announced what the Chinese president termed a "new-era, all-weather, comprehensive strategic partnership." "We are ready to take this as a new starting point to push our relations and practical cooperation into a golden voyage," Xi said Thursday at a news conference. "The two sides will strengthen the docking of development strategies, deepen cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, investment and finance, push forward the construction of key projects such as the Budapest-Belgrade Railway," he added. Current Chinese investment projects in Hungary amount to over $17 billion, according to Budapest, with further investments from Beijing to follow, including in several electric car and battery plants. The European Union accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing the industry and undercutting its own carmakers, which China denies. Multipolar world But Xi's visit was about more than money. China and Hungary sent a geopolitical message to the West. "We used to live in a one-center world order. Now we live in a multipolar world, and one of the pillars of this new world order is the Republic of China — the country which now defines the course of world and economic politics," Orban told reporters Thursday. Hungary sees dual benefits in wooing China, said analyst Andras Hettyey of the University for Public Service in Budapest. "The government believes that this will be beneficial for the Hungarian economy as a whole. But I think we shouldn't forget that this also comes with political allegiances or political ties — a political bond between Hungarian leading politicians and Chinese leading politicians," he told VOA. War on Ukraine Xi and Orban discussed Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. The West accuses China of aiding Moscow's war through economic support and the sale of dual-use goods that can be used in weapons. Beijing denies the accusations. Hungary's Orban also maintains close political and economic ties with Russia, and echoed his Chinese counterpart's claim that they are working toward peace. "Our voice in Europe is a lonely one. Europe today supports war. The only exception is Hungary, urging immediate cease-fire and peace talks. And we support all international efforts towards peace, and thus we support the Chinese peace initiative presented by President Xi Jinping," Orban said. Ukraine has said it will not negotiate until invading Russian troops leave its territory. Western anger Orban's traditional allies in the European Union and NATO have voiced concerns about his close ties with Beijing and Moscow and have criticized a perceived backsliding of democracy in Hungary. That won't bother Budapest, said Hettyey. "In fact, it might be even a point of which our government will be proud. Because by now there is a very strong alienation between the Hungarian government and its Western partners, to the point where the present Hungarian government does not want to achieve, does not deem important to have a good reputation in the West," he said. There were small demonstrations against the Chinese president's visit, including by pro-Tibetan and Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigners. Teams of people in red baseball caps — whom the Chinese Embassy in Budapest described as "volunteers" — confiscated protesters' flags. Serbia visit Prior to visiting Hungary, Xi visited Serbia, another European ally with close ties to Moscow — and which is, like Hungary, a partner of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative and has received billions of dollars in infrastructure and industrial investment. The visit to Belgrade coincided with the 25th anniversary of NATO's accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in the city, which killed three people, prompting an apology from the United States. During his visit, Xi reaffirmed Beijing's view that Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, is still part of Serbia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic reiterated his country's acceptance of the "One China" principle, which considers Taiwan as part of China. Exploiting divisions Earlier in the week, Xi visited France, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. There were few indications that Xi is prepared to offer concessions on Chinese trade practices or on its support for Russia. The Chinese president did, however, praise his French counterpart's desire for "strategic autonomy" — the idea that Europe should reduce its security reliance on the United States. China is seeking to exploit divisions in the West, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS, University of London. "The 'united front' approach of divide and rule is integral to Chinese foreign policy, particularly under Xi Jinping. And that is, of course, reflected in the choice of all three countries that Xi Jinping would visit. "So, the more that China can charm Europe and persuade Europeans not to work with the Americans, the better," Tsang told VOA.

canoas, brazil — Rains returned to Rio Grande do Sul on Friday as the death toll from historic floods in Brazil's southernmost state reached 126, according to local authorities, climbing from 113 earlier in the day. The storms and floods battering the state, home to about 10.9 million people, also have displaced almost 340,000 while another 141 people are still unaccounted for, civil defense said. Heavy rains have caused several rivers and lakes in the region to hit their highest levels ever, while floods blocked streets and disrupted logistics, triggering a shortage of essential goods in certain areas. Almost 2 million people have been affected so far, civil defense said in their latest update Friday evening. Weather forecaster MetSul said that most Rio Grande do Sul cities should experience rain Friday, adding there is a high risk of storms. They should persist until Monday, it added in a statement. The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created a weather pattern with periods of intense rain and others of drought. Local scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change. In Canoas, one of most affected cities near state capital Porto Alegre, more than 6,000 people were staying in a college gymnasium turned into shelter. Aparecida de Fatima Fagundes said she had been struggling to sleep there as she could not stop thinking about "the worst day" of her life. "I keep remembering people saying, 'Help, help,'" she said. "It was horrible." The state government said more than 385,000 people had no water services, while some 20 cities were out of telecom services. On Thursday, the federal government announced a package of aid measures to help Rio Grande do Sul, which included bringing forward payment of social benefits and providing cheaper credit to farmers and companies. Governor Eduardo Leite said earlier this week that initial calculations indicate that Rio Grande do Sul would need at least 19 billion reais ($3.68 billion) to rebuild from the damage, which has extended into farm areas around the capital.

washington — Donald Trump's youngest son Barron, 18, on Friday stepped back from his planned political debut, withdrawing as a delegate at the Republican Party convention in July.  Barron, who has been largely shielded from the public eye, made global headlines this week when it appeared he would be the latest member of the Trump family to enter the political arena.  But a statement from the office of his mother, Melania Trump, the former president's third wife, soon put a stop to the convention plan.  "While Barron is honored to have been chosen as a delegate by the Florida Republican Party, he regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments," it said.  The convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will see Trump's official crowning as the Republican challenger to Democratic President Joe Biden, with delegates from each state designating their candidate for the November election.  Barron would have appeared alongside his siblings Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump as part of the Florida delegation.  Barron lived in the White House as a child when his father was president but has been fiercely protected from public view.  Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, was a senior adviser in his presidency alongside her husband, Jared Kushner, while Don Jr. and Eric are regulars at Trump rallies and on the campaign trail.  In March, the Republican National Committee elected Eric's wife, Lara, to a leadership position. 

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washington — China has quietly resumed cooperation with the United States on the repatriation of Chinese migrants illegally stranded in the U.S., The Associated Press reported Thursday. The U.S.-China repatriation cooperation resumes amid the influx of Chinese migrants across the southern border of the United States. China halted the cooperation in August 2022 as part of retaliation over the visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Beijing considers the self-ruled island a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland — by force if necessary — and opposes any official contact between Taipei and foreign governments, especially Washington, which supplies weapons for Taiwan to defend itself. Since the cooperation was halted, the U.S. has seen a spike in the number of Chinese migrants entering illegally from Mexico. U.S. border officials in 2023 arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals at the southern border, nearly 10 times more than in 2022. China's Foreign Ministry this week told the AP Beijing was "willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation in the area of immigration enforcement with the U.S." and would accept Chinese nationals who were deported. The resumption came after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in April told NBC News the U.S. and China were holding high-level talks on the issue. Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, said negotiations may increase the number of deportations of Chinese migrants in the short term. But he said the real effect on migrants' decision-making process depends more on U.S. resources and capacity to conduct more removals. "Prior negotiations with Venezuela, for example, did not lead to large increases in removals from the United States partially because it takes time to change structures and implement these measures," he told VOA. The New York Times reported that 100,000 Chinese nationals are living in the U.S. despite final orders for deportation. The number of Chinese migrants illegally entering the U.S. on its southern border has shown a downward trend this year, after a record spike in December. U.S. Customs and Borders Protection (CBP) said that while there were nearly 6,000 arrests of Chinese nationals in December, there were 3,700 in January, 3,500 in February, and just over 2,000 in March. Soto attributed the drop to stronger visa and border enforcement, but also to China's censoring online information about the route. "Because technology has become so entrenched in how migrants learn and select travel routes today, unlike in prior years when these were more heavily based on personal knowledge and networks," he told VOA, "it is likely that censoring content in mainstream channels can make it more difficult to travel along existing routes." Social media platform Douyin, the Chinese version of the short video sharing platform TikTok, has since last year been quietly cracking down on content about "Zouxian," which means "walk the line" in Mandarin. The term refers to Chinese migrants illegally crossing borders, including into the U.S. from Mexico and South America. It became a popular topic on the Chinese internet a few years ago and was used to search for information and tips on the route. Reuters reported last year that many Chinese migrants found at the U.S. southern border said they found out how to travel there on Douyin. Yang Yinhua, 31, told VOA he had no idea what the word "Zouxian" meant until last summer when he was introduced to the phrase while reading news about how dangerous the journey could be. He tried to look it up on China's biggest search engine, Baidu, but couldn't find much useful information. In August, someone he met on the internet invited him to join a group chat on Douyin. Group members shared information and tips about how to Zouxian to other countries, including the U.S. Yang said the chat quickly reached the maximum number of participants, which was 500. It was one of the six Zouxian group chats created by a user called Yunfei. Yang said all six chats were filled within weeks. "Nobody was living a decent life during the last five or six years," he told VOA. "The ruling party wasn't making the people feel happy like it used to." When Yang's mother died alone during the pandemic, he blamed China's draconian COVID-19 policy and decided it was time to leave his home country. By October, he had a plan to travel to the U.S. by way of Turkey, Ecuador and the Mexico-U.S. border. But Yang noticed Douyin started blocking Zouxian content. Yang and others in the group chat had to invent new words to continue discussing the route because the platform kept censoring certain key words. By the end of October, Yunfei had deleted all videos he posted about getting to the U.S., Yang said. Then Douyin suspended Yunfei's account and shut down all six of his chat groups. As soon as he left China, Yang stopped using Douyin and moved to the messaging application Telegram, where he joined a group chat also set up by Yunfei. But by the time Yang entered the chat, Yunfei had already left. In April, Yang said, the chat was taken over by what he called "little pink patriots," a derogatory nickname for those expressing pro-Beijing views. On TikTok, the international version of Douyin owned by the same parent company ByteDance, users noticed in January that content about Zouxian and the U.S.-Mexico border were being blocked. "No results found," the app says when you search for the term "Zouxian." It adds that the phrase "may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines." According to TikTok's community guidelines, content considered harmful cannot be displayed. That includes hate speech, sexual violence, harassment, human exploitation and more. "We do not allow human exploitation, including trafficking and smuggling," the guidelines read. VOA tested Douyin in May and found that, aside from a few news clips about Chinese migrants traveling to the southern border of the U.S., "Zouxian" does not return any details about the route. Search results for locations including "Ecuador," "Guatemala" and "Panama" likewise show no results for Zouxian. For many Chinese migrants, Douyin was one of the few sources of online information on the route. China's internet firewall blocks social media sites Facebook, YouTube and X in China. VOA reached out to ByteDance for comment but received no response by the time of publication. Wang Yaqiu, director of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at human rights organization Freedom House in Washington, said the phenomenon of Zouxian reflects many Chinese people's dissatisfaction with Beijing, which she thinks can partly explain Douyin's crackdown. "I think the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is embarrassed that so many Chinese people want to flee the country even through such risky means. It exposes CCP propaganda about the Chinese economy and how good people's life are to be a sham," she wrote to VOA. In March, the bodies of eight Chinese migrants were found washed up on a beach in southern Mexico after the boat they were on capsized. Despite China's censorship of the route, Yang evaded border patrols to cross into the U.S. in early December with his sister. He lives in California, works at a warehouse and has no desire to return to China. Aline Barros contributed to this report.

geneva — After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak. A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups and others to finalize a "pandemic treaty" was scheduled to end Friday. The accord's aim: guidelines for how the WHO's 194 member countries might stop future pandemics and better share scarce resources. But experts warn there are virtually no consequences for countries that don't comply. WHO's countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee talks for a pandemic agreement in 2021. Envoys have been working long hours in recent weeks to prepare a draft ahead of a self-imposed deadline later this month: ratification of the accord at WHO's annual meeting. But deep divisions could derail it. U.S. Republican senators wrote a letter to the Biden administration last week critical of the draft for focusing on issues like "shredding intellectual property rights" and "supercharging the WHO." They urged Biden not to sign off. Britain's department of health said it would only agree to an accord if it was "firmly in the U.K. national interest and respects national sovereignty." And many developing countries say it's unfair that they might be expected to provide virus samples to help develop vaccines and treatments, but then be unable to afford them. "This pandemic treaty is a very high-minded pursuit, but it doesn't take political realities into account," said Sara Davies, a professor of international relations at Griffith University in Australia. For example, the accord is attempting to address the gap that occurred between COVID-19 vaccines in rich and poorer countries, which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said amounted to "a catastrophic moral failure." The draft says WHO should get 20% of the production of pandemic-related products like tests, treatments and vaccines and urges countries to disclose their deals with private companies. "There's no mechanism within WHO to make life really difficult for any countries that decide not to act in accordance with the treaty," Davies said. Adam Kamradt-Scott, a global health expert at Harvard University, said that similar to the global climate agreements, the draft pandemic treaty would at least provide a new forum for countries to try to hold each other to account, where governments will have to explain what measures they've taken. The pandemic treaty "is not about anyone telling the government of a country what it can do and what it cannot do," said Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO's negotiating board for the agreement. There are legally binding obligations under the International Health Regulations, including quickly reporting dangerous new outbreaks. But those have been flouted repeatedly, including by African countries during Ebola outbreaks and China in the early stages of COVID-19. Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at Geneva's Graduate Institute, said it was critical to determine the expected role of WHO during a pandemic and how outbreaks might be stopped before spreading globally. "If we fail to seize this window of opportunity which is closing … we'll be just as vulnerable as we were in 2019," she warned. Some countries appear to be moving on their own to ensure cooperation from others in the next pandemic. Last month, President Joe Biden's administration said it would help 50 countries respond to new outbreaks and prevent global spread, giving the country leverage should it need critical information or materials in the future. Yuanqiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors without Borders, said it's unclear what might be different in the next pandemic, but hoped that focusing attention on some of the glaring errors that emerged in COVID-19 might help. "We will mostly have to rely on countries to do better," she said. "That is worrisome."

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Research into online abuse and hate speech reveals most women in Ethiopia face gender-targeted attacks across Facebook, Telegram and X. The abuse and hate speech are prompting many Ethiopian women to withdraw from public life, online and off, according to the recent research. The Center for Information Resilience, a U.K.-based nonprofit organization, spearheaded the study. The CIR report, released Wednesday, says that women in Ethiopia are on the receiving end of abuse and hate speech across all three social media platforms, with Facebook cited as the worst. Over 2,000 inflammatory keywords were found in the research, which looked at three Ethiopian languages — Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna — as well as English. The list is the most comprehensive inflammatory word lexicon in Ethiopia, according to the researchers. Over 78% of the women interviewed reported feelings of fear or anxiety after experiencing online abuse. It is highly likely similar problems exist in areas of society that have not been analyzed yet, said Felicity Mulford, editor and researcher at CIR. “This data can be used by human rights advocates, women’s rights advocates, in their advocacy,” she said. “We believe that it’s incredibly impactful, because even though we’ve only got four languages, it shows some of the [trends] that exist across Ethiopia.” Online abuse is so widespread in Ethiopia that it has been “normalized to the point of invisibility,” the report’s authors said. Betelehem Akalework, co-founder of Setaset Power, an Afro-feminist movement in Ethiopia, said her work has opened doors to more-serious, targeted attacks. “We [were] mentally prepared for it to some extent,” she said. “We [weren’t] surprised that the backlash was that heavy, but then we did not anticipate the gravity of that backlash. So, we took media training, and we took digital security trainings.” The Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center, established three years ago, offers protection for human rights defenders and social media activists in the country. The center’s program coordinator, Kalkidan Tesfaye, said there must be more initiative from the government in education and policymaking to help women protect themselves from online abuse. “In our recommendation earlier, we were talking about how the Ministry of Education can incorporate digital safety training ... a very essential element to learning about computers or acquiring digital skills,” Tesfaye said. The researchers also investigated other protected characteristics under Ethiopian law, including ethnicity, religion and race. The findings showed that women face compounded attacks, as they are also often targeted for their ethnicity and religion.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez — the former head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee — is set to go on trial next week for allegedly using his position for personal gain. Jury selection in the federal corruption case is expected to begin in New York on Monday. Aron Ranen has more from New York.